Recently techniques for recording digital signals obtained by transforming audio signals, which are analogue signals, on a tape are being developed with the development of the digital audio techniques. Since an extremely wide frequency band exclusively used therefor is necessary for transforming analogue signals into digital signals, it is required that the contact area per unit time in a magnetic head for recording signals on a tape or reproducing them is large. For this purpose, since it is an indispensable condition to adopt a rotating head system instead of the conventional fixed head system, heretofore various kinds of tape recorders provided with a rotating head based on such a condition have been proposed.
Such a tape recorder is so constructed that the tape is extracted by a loading block from a tape cassette, which has been loaded, and that it is wound round the rotating head. Because of this construction it is necessary that the pinch roller thrusting the tape against the capstan can move forward and backward likewise as the loading block.
In this case, the loading block and the pinch roller should be juxtaposed in close vicinity to each other before the tape loading, and at the tape loading they move along respective arc-shaped trajectories towards the rotating head. Therefore a fairly large space is necessary for their movement. Consequently there was a problem that the mechanism was large, when a space sufficiently large for arranging and working both the members should be secured. This is in opposition to the strong requirement that a tape recorder especially for use on vehicles, etc. should be compact. Therefore it was an important problem to be solved.